Thursday, 15 May 2014

Chettinad Chicken is among the most popular chicken curries that gets it's origin from the Chettinad region in the southern state of India, Tamil Nadu. This fiery rich curry gets it's flavour and heat mostly from the freshly ground aromatic spice blend, grated coconut and the curry leaves and very generous amount of red chillies used to make the masala. However, you can definitely go a bit easy on the chillies.

Chettinad Chicken happens to be one of my favourite curries . Reason!? The use of curry leaves and coconut that makes this dish special and most of all my immense love for South Indian food of course! Be it Dosa, Idli, Uthapam, Sambhar,you name it and I am a game for it.

My version of Chettinad Chicken is very mildly spiced as we do not prefer much heat in our curries. Use of curry leaves and grated coconut as I mentioned before is a must in this recipe.I have used cashew paste that adds a creamy texture to the curry you can even use poppy seed or melon seed (charmagaz), roasted chana dal paste instead of cashews.

As a thumb rule whenever cooking chicken dish of any kind, I always prefer to score and marinate meat at least for an hour if not more. It helps the flesh to absorb the flavour of the spices to the max and as an outcome you are richly rewarded with juicy, tender and more flavourful meat pieces.

Lets get to the recipe. The list of ingredients might give you a shock:P But, it's honestly worth the effort and quite conveniently available in every kitchen pantry.

Dry roast all ingredients in a skillet or a frying pan above and make a paste.

Method:

Step 1: Take your chicken pieces in a bowl and make slits on the flesh ( or score) with a sharp knife. Rub your chicken pieces with oil and salt.

Step 2: Add the ground masala blend and rub all over your chicken pieces, marinate and keep aside. I marinated my chicken overnight, but 5-6 hours is good enough. If you are too pressed for time just an hour is good too.

Step 3: Heat oil on high in a thick bottomed vessel. Turn down heat to medium and quickly add curry leaves and a pinch of hing. (At this stage you can set aside a few tempered curry leaves for garnishing)

Step 3: As the curry leaves splatters add the chopped onion. Once onion start to soften and change colour to golden add the marinated meat along with any leftover marinade. Cook for 2-3 minutes add red chilli powder, turmeric powder, sambhar masala and cook until the masalas are cooked and fragrant.

Step 4: Add chopped or grated tomato. Mix well with the chicken and the masalas. Stir and cook well at least for 2-3 mins and cover on medium flame. By now you will see oil and masala has separated and the chicken is almost cooked through. Add a little warm water, depending on the consistency of the gravy you want. The gravy should be thick, semi dry and not too runny.

Step 5. Do a taste test and adjust seasoning of salt as desired. Cover and cook for 5 mins.

Step 6: Garnish with some broken cashews and the curry leaves you had set aside(in step 3). You may even use freshly chopped coriander leaves but I prefer not to, let the curry leaves do the magic!

Finish off with a squeeze of lemon or lime juice. Dish out and enjoy Chicken Chettinad Curry at it's best accompanied with some steamed basmati rice, pilaf, dosai or any Indian bread. Happy days!

Enjoy..

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Tuesday, 6 May 2014

"Batichochori" or a 'Mish Mash' if you roughly translate it in english, is a very popular Bengali preparation where all ingredients are cooked in one- go flavoured with minimum spices and mustard oil. Yes, mustard oil is a must for that added zing. Very essential for any typical bong preparation. As I have mentioned previously that any other kind of oil used will be a compromise! It is an absolute fuss free, simple to cook dish. This dish can be created using fish, shrimps or just potatoes on its own. I have had all these variations of a batichochori before but this time it was with egg. When I came across this recipe it was very unique to me as I had never heard of or thought of (to be more precise) "Dimer Batichochori", a spicy 'Egg and Potato Mish Mash.' "It is a super easy comfort food for all the egg lovers like me, as said by my friend and owner of this recipe Ms Kolpita Basu, from Mumbai, Maharashtra."

Recipes that are unique and easy to-do always attract me and I am always on the prowl looking out for one. Moreover, it is a lifesaver when you only have eggs and potatoes left in the pantry or you want to have a real quick fix dinner ready on the table. When I tried this dimer batichochori I was absolutely in love with it's simplicity and yet the delectable taste. The semi mashed eggs and potatoes cooked along with the spices add a beautiful texture and softness to the dish. Without wasting any more time, I approached Kolpita for her consent and here is the recipe for all my readers. Try once, you would want to repeat this again and again!

Kolpita, Thank you sooo much for sharing this recipe with us. I am sure all readers of Eat as you Like will fall in love with your "Dimer Batichochori" just like me and my family. This is now a very frequently cooked egg dish in my home. Thank you once again :)

For making Dimer Batichochori I followed Kolpita's recipe from start to end except for a few minor changes in between. So here is the recipe:To make Dimer Batichochori you will need :5-6 hard boiled eggs, peeled and set aside1 large onion sliced or chopped7-8 cloves of garlic finely chopped1 small-medium sized ginger finely chopped1 tablespoon turmeric powder1 tablespoon red chilly powder1 large tomato chopped (optional)4-5 tablespoon of mustard oil4 medium potatoes, peeled and diced2-3 green chillies finely chopped or more if you dareFreshly chopped coriander leaves for garnishingand extra mustard oil for servingSalt to taste.

Step 1: In a wok or a thick bottomed pan heat mustard oil on medium flame, now add the onions.Step 2: Once the onions start to change colour and look translucent add the potatoes and keep frying.Step 3: Add ginger, garlic and green chillies finely chopped.Step 4: Keep cooking for a while and once they are nicely stir-fried add the chopped tomatoes.Step 5: Add the eggs. Add the spices such as turmeric, chilli powder. Step 6: Keep stirring and mixing all the ingredients and breaking the eggs down roughly with a spatula. Cover on low-medium flame. Step 7: By now the tomatoes should soften, add a little warm water, cover and cook until the potatoes are cooked and soft. Add seasoning of salt.Step 8: Remove lid, check consistency. It should have a mashed look. You may even like to break down the potatoes a bit. Depending on how much gravy you want you may add some more warm water. The dish is more mashy and semi dry and not very runny. Garnish with coriander, some more green chillies and a drizzle of mustard oil.
Serve with steaming hot rice, any bread such as Roti or Chappati or even Luchi (puffy Indian deep fried bread) or as my friend says sandwich it between bread slices and enjoy!

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